Correlation Between Attenuation of Posttraumatic Spinal Cord Ischemia and Preservation of Tissue Vitamin E by the 21-Aminosteroid U74006F: Evidence for an In Vivo Antioxidant Mechanism

In the present study, the ability of U74006F, the 21-aminosteroid inhibitor of lipid peroxidation, to attenuate posttraumatic spinal cord ischemia has been examined in cats following a moderately severe compression injury. Moreover, in an attempt to assess whether U74006F is affecting in vivo posttraumatic lipid peroxidation, the effect of the compound on injury-induced spinal tissue vitamin E depletion was also studied. Following an initial 10 min postinjury hyperperfusion (+45%), spinal cord blood flow (SCBF) returned to the preinjury level at 30 min before entering a phase of progressive hypoperfusion, which reached −42.0 ± 4.5% by 4 h postinjury in the vehicle-treated animals. In animals that received 30 min postinjury U74006F i.v. doses of 1.0, 3.0, or 10 mg/kg (plus 0.5, 1.5, and 5.0 mg/kg maintenance doses at 2.5 h.), the SCBF decline was reduced to −23.1%, −22.9%, and −26.1%, respectively (p < 0.05 vs. vehicle at all three doses). A 0.3 mg/kg dose did not reduce the posttraumatic fall in SCBF. In vehicle-treated cats, the vitamin E content of the injured cord segment was reduced by 78.9% at 4 h postinjury in comparison to cord samples from uninjured vehicle-treated cats. In contrast, the same doses of U74006F (1.0, 3.0, and 10 mg/kg) that attenuated posttraumatic ischemia also significantly reduced the depletion of cord vitamin E. The lowest U74006F dosage (0.3 mg/kg), which failed to affect posttraumatic ischemia development, also had no effect on spinal cord vitamin E content. The U74006F dose–response curve for attenuation of posttraumatic spinal cord ischemia and vitamin E depletion is similar to that reported previously for promotion of chronic neurologic recovery following the same injury. Thus, these effects appear to be causally related, supporting the view that the protective effects of U74006F in the injured spinal cord are indeed due to an antioxidant mechanism.